You Were Only Waiting
by belleblake
Summary: Kurt Hummel's best friend went missing when he was thirteen years old. The day still haunts his mind and he finds himself almost constantly thinking about Blaine and the last time he saw him. However, when Blaine is finally found, he's not quite the boy Kurt remembers. AU
1. Prologue

**This is just the prologue so it's pretty short. I'm working on the first chapter right now so I'll post that soon. :) **

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Kurt hated nights like this. The picture of his face flashing in front of him every time he closed his eyes, the way he heard him laughing, the sound echoing through his mind, even though he wasn't there, the way he could almost smell him on his clothes yet the smell seemed just out of reach somehow. He turned over one last time, sighing as he caught sight of the picture of them on his nightstand. Right beside it was a picture of Kurt and his mother. Two of the most precious people in his life and they had both left him. He could't really blame them, of course. Like his father would say to him so often, "It was their time, Kurt.". But his father's words still didn't make it hurt any less, even after all of the years that had passed.

Kurt closed his eyes again, trying to focus on falling asleep. Ignoring the way Blaine Anderson's smile haunted his thoughts. After a few minutes of trying to drift off, he let out a frustrated groan. He glanced at the clock, _4:18am, _he groaned again, knowing that he had to be up in another two hours or so. Not every night was like this. Sometimes he would drift off peacefully, sleeping as if he didn't have a single care in the world. Other times he'd be awake for most of the night, managing to get maybe an hour's sleep and he'd trudge around school like a zombie the next day. It worried his friends when he got himself into that state. Mercedes would treat him as she normally would, though her and Rachel would share glances filled with worry when they thought that he couldn't see them and Quinn would sit by him in glee club, looking at him with genuine concern, constantly asking him if he was okay. Once or twice she'd offered to pray for Blaine, he had fought her off at first but eventually he stopped protesting, telling her to do whatever she wanted. It's not like it would really make a difference anyway. The rest of the glee club tended to keep their distance, knowing that Kurt didn't want people fussing over him. Santana offered to bring some alcohol for him once to perk him up a bit, but he politely declined, telling her that he'd be fine by the next day. He usually was.

He let out another frustrated groan, turning over and burying his head into his soft pillow. He could still remember the last time he saw Blaine as if it only happened yesterday. The way his skinny little arms felt wrapped around Blaine's small body. Hugging him goodbye before he left to go to his grandparents house for the weekend. The weekend. That's how long he was supposed to be gone for. Kurt had been sad at the time, Blaine had been his rock, his best friend who had held him so many times after his mom died when he was eight. They had been best friends since Kurt was six and Blaine was five. They had met at the park one afternoon and had been inseparable throughout their childhoods. They'd never been away from each other for a whole weekend before. They would constantly see each other at school and then they'd be at each other's houses all weekend. A whole weekend seemed like such a short time to Kurt now. He hadn't seen his best friend for four years and he missed him a little bit more everyday. It wasn't the same as his mother. He knew that she was gone, that he'd never see her face again. With Blaine there was always that glimmer of hope, though everyday the possibility of them finding him became more and more unlikely. The police had given up a year or so ago. Saying that they were very sorry, but there was no way they could possibly find him, that the chances of him being alive were extremely slim. Blaine's parents had been devastated, along with his brother. Cooper had let Kurt sob into his chest that night, the two of them wrapped under Blaine's old blanket. Blaine's parents and his family continued to cling on to the hope that one day they'd be reunited with their little boy again. Kurt wasn't quite as optimistic but the hope was still there.

The clearest memory he has is the worst one, his dad steering him towards the couch and telling him to sit down, taking a deep shuddering breath as he placed the newspaper in front of his son, murmuring, "I'm so sorry, buddy." and placing a comforting arm around him.

_Boy, 12, Goes Missing In Westerville Ohio. _That was the day Kurt Hummel's heart broke.


	2. Found

**So, I know this is an AU but in a way it sort of (kind of, not really) follows the canon TL for season 2. Burt still had his heart attack, still married Carole, etc (Kurt doesn't go to Dalton though and Karofsky has never kissed him). If we're going off episodes this is around "Special Education" time. Hopefully that'll give people an idea of the the boys' ages. :)**

**Warning: The word "rape" and hints of sexual assault/abuse are in this chapter.**

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The day that Blaine Anderson was found started like many other days for Kurt Hummel. He woke up around 7am, cursing under his breath a few times when he realized that he'd overslept again. The previous night hadn't been too terrible as far as nights went for him, but he had still been awake for most of it. Finn called up the stairs, asking him if he wanted a ride to school and Kurt accepted his offer, asking if he minded sticking around for a while so that he could get dressed, which Finn said was fine.

When he bounded down the stairs twenty minutes later, which had to be a new record for him, he was greeted with his step-brother holding out a slice of cold toast which he politely accepted with a wrinkle of his nose.

"Are you ready?" Finn asked, watching as Kurt nibbled on the toast with a slight look of distaste on his face before pulling out his phone, tapping out a quick text message.

"Uh-huh," Kurt said, stuffing the last mouthful of toast past his lips, "Just let me grab a jacket." He scurried off to the downstairs closet, quickly picking up his favourite Marc Jacobs jacket and pulling it over his shoulders. He gave himself a once over in the mirror, nodding in approval before leaving the house with Finn.

When they arrived at school Rachel was waiting for them in the parking lot, in her hands she held a large cup of coffee with a Lima Bean logo on the side. They did this quite often. Every time Finn heard Kurt tossing and turning in the night or he overslept, Finn would text Rachel, asking her to get him some coffee so that he didn't fall asleep at some point during the day. It was a nice gesture and it always warmed Kurt's heart a little, knowing how much his family and friends cared about him.

"For you," she said, holding it out to him. He thanked her and took the cup from her hands. They walked slowly towards the school, Finn and Rachel idly chatting about glee club, Kurt staying quiet as gulped down his coffee, just listening as Rachel talked about yet another solo she wanted to do at Sectionals this year. He rolled his eyes as she rattled on about the Barbra songs that she was dying to sing to a competition audience.

"Rachel, Sectionals is less than a week away. We already have all of the songs planned out, you'll get your solo at Regionals." He told her, the short brunette huffed, coming to a halt just in front of him.

"I'm just saying, I personally think that if we want to guarantee first place, I should get a solo, now is not the time to take risks! But I guess you're right, I can showcase more of my talent at Regionals this year. There's nothing wrong with planning ahead, Kurt." She said. Kurt just responded with another roll of his eyes as she went back to discussing the duets she could do with Finn at Regionals, speaking much more enthusiastically than she had been when she was talking about Sectionals. Kurt was throwing his empty cup into the trash when he spotted Mercedes, he quickly hurried off to walk beside her. Rachel Berry was far too much for him to deal with first thing in the morning.

When the time finally came for glee club that day, Kurt was exhausted. The lack of sleep from the previous night seemed to have finally caught up with him. His eyes felt heavy, he couldn't stop yawning and all he wanted was to go home and curl up in bed. He'd been pushed into a locker earlier that day by Azimio, his lower back aching in the place where he was sure a bruise had formed by now. There was also an unsettling feeling in his stomach and he couldn't quite place what it was or figure out why it was there. In the end he brushed it off as nerves for Sectionals.

"Kurt, you okay?" Mr Schue. asked, Kurt was staring into space, the rest of the New Directions were out of their seats, all of them looking at him sympathetically. Kurt hated it when they did that.

"Fine," he said quietly.

"We're gonna practice Valerie. Are you okay to join us? You look a little tired," Mr Schuester replied, studying Kurt a little more closely, seeing the dark bags that had formed under his eyes.

"I'll be _fine_." He said, standing up to join them as Santana began singing. They managed to get through the number without any major problems, they were pretty much ready for Sectionals now. They ran through the number three more times before Mr Schue. dismissed them all, telling them to enjoy their weekend and to be ready for Sectionals next week. Kurt grabbed his bag from beside the chair he had been sitting on earlier and pulled out his phone, _5 missed calls, Dad. _A sudden wave of panic came over him. His dad knew he was at glee practice and after his heart attack earlier in the year, Kurt was more overprotective of his father than he ever had been. But he knew that he wouldn't call him on his cell phone if he was sick. Still, it must have been something pretty urgent if he was calling him while he was at glee rehearsal. All of the calls had been in the past ten minutes so he quickly called his father back.

"Kurt!" His father's voice sounded different, relieved almost, he'd answered the phone immediately, only letting it ring once, "You need to come home right now!" Kurt's heart jumped a little in his chest.

"Dad! Oh God! What's wrong is everything-" Kurt said frantically, his dad wasn't one to use that sort of tone or demand that Kurt come home right away. Something had to be wrong.

"Everything's _fine_, Kurt," he paused for a moment, wondering whether he should break the news to him over the phone, "It's about Blaine. They, uh, we think he's been found."

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The drive home had felt like the longest car journey of Kurt's life. He had even offered to _pay_ Finn to speed so that they could get there faster. Something that he would never normally do, Kurt was always very careful when it came to driving. He twisted his fingers together in his lap. _We think he's been found._ The words whirled around in his head, making him feel dizzy. The words he never thought he'd hear. The words he'd longed to hear for years. He closed his eyes for a second, wondering what the boy might look like now, before yelling at Finn to speed up, _goddammit_.

When they arrived at home, Kurt jumped out of the car the second that it stopped moving. Not even picking up his bag off the floor. Finn followed him into the house but made his way upstairs, leaving Kurt to talk to his father alone.

"Kurt, buddy. I think you should sit down," Burt said to him as he came crashing through the living room door.

"Sit down?" Kurt asked shakily. Kurt didn't really associate good experiences with the phrase 'you should sit down'. It was usually, 'Sit down, Blaine's missing.' or 'Sit down, your dad's in the hospital.' and the worst one, 'Sit down, Kurt. Buddy, you know how mommy was sick for a long time?'. For one horrifying moment, he thought about his father's words from earlier, _we think he's been found. _He had never mentioned the word _alive_ once. Kurt suddenly felt like he might be sick. No, no, _no_. His dad wouldn't give him false hope like that. He sat down beside his father on the couch and Burt turned to face him properly. He placed a comforting arm around Kurt.

"They found a boy. A young boy, about Blaine's age. Cooper was the one who called, he said that you should know and well, their parents are obviously busy and worked up right now. They're sure that it's him, but Kurt, he's, it's really bad."

"How bad? What, I mean, where was he?" Kurt asked. His father had tears in his eyes and his grip tightened around Kurt's shoulder as if he wanted to protect his son from everything.

"He, uh, he was in the basement of some guy's house, the police were searching the guy, apparently he'd been arrested for possession of drugs and they thought he was stashing them in the house. They got there and he was, oh, _Kurt," _Kurt watched as his father took another shaky breath, before placing his head on his shoulder in an attempted to comfort the man, he'd never seen him lose it like this before and it scared him a little bit, "They found Blaine tied up, down in the basement. Black and blue, from what Cooper said. Ripped clothes, open wounds just left to bleed, hair covering most of his face. Apparently he wouldn't speak to any of them at all."

"Had he, has he been, you know..." _Raped, _his mind supplied for him but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. His dad seemed to understand what he meant though.

"I'm not sure, buddy. I don't like to jump to conclusions but well, from what I've heard-"

"No, no. Not Blaine, no, _why_?" Kurt interrupted, not wanting to hear any more. He knew that he must have been before he'd even asked. Why else would someone keep a sixteen year old boy locked away in their basement? He didn't want to think about it anymore, he suddenly felt like throwing up again and a fresh wave of tears made tracks down his face.

"I don't know, Kurt. I just, I don't know." Burt said as he rocked his son in his arms as he cried, letting a few tears fall himself.

After a long period of silence, Kurt spoke up again, his voice shaking from the tears, "I want to see him."

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**Please, let me know what you think! I promise these will get longer as the story gets going! **


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